Lucky Dip – Monday, November 14th, 2011

Cooked versus raw – or – maybe this is why people on raw food diets are so slim. [Globe and Mail]

More than 30 years after his death, Colonel Harland Sanders will become a published author – online no less. KFC plans to publish a recently discovered manuscript written by Sanders in the 60s. Part-autobiography, part cookbook, it sadly does not contain THE secret recipe. [Philly.com]

Black Creek Pioneer Village makes a one-mile beer, made with ingredients grown on the museum grounds. [Toronto Sun]

A dirty restaurant bathroom doesn’t necessarily mean that the kitchen is disgusting too. Also, door knobs aren’t that dirty, stop being so paranoid!) [Chow]

I’m a big fan of returning old buildings to their former grandeur, so the plans by Oliver & Bonacini to return the Arcadian Court at The Bay Queen Street to its original art deco elegance get a big thumbs up. The room (along with the sad little cafeteria-style restaurant) will become an event space in 2012. [Oliver & Bonacini blog]

Continue reading “Lucky Dip – Monday, November 14th, 2011”

Lucky Dip – Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Maybe Ricky and Julian (and pretty much every hard-drinking Nova Scotian) aren’t so dumb after all – rum is the hot “new” drink, and yes, you can have it with Coke. [Globe and Mail]

If you’ve been following the news in Toronto about how a Halloween party store has had multiple bomb scares during their busiest season, and wondering why on earth anyone would do such a thing, maybe it’s the same freaky sense of competition that compelled two Domino’s managers in Florida to set fire to a rival pizza joint. [Jacksonville.com]

Tomorrow is International Stout Day (yes, it’s a real thing). Celebrate in style with a tasty chocolate version of the beloved elixir. [Toronto Star]

Fried chicken, a presidential scandal and how what we eat might stereotype us. [Slate]

“Cooking is the showy side of domesticity.” Why men like to cook more than scrub the floor. [Globe and Mail]

Continue reading “Lucky Dip – Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011”

My Cat’s Breath Smells Like Catfood

They say that a truly great writer has the ability to adapt their tone and style to the publication and audience they’re writing for. I can write a sharp scathing business letter that reads like it has come from a lawyer’s office (much to the chagrin of my apartment building manager). I can write a soulful article about a food artisan and truly convey how much they love their work. I can write flowery essays so vivid that they utterly capture one brief moment in time.

Yet when I speak, I am prone to cursing, slang and most of all, the catchphrase.

Not clichéd phrases, but little sound bites culled from popular culture.

After seeing the award winning play I, Claudia twice, Greg and I now refer to almost everything as “HIGH-larious”, a phrase used regularly by the 12-year-old title character.

When cooking, or completing any task, really, I will loudly pronounce “Done!”, something I’ve picked up from Gordon Ramsay’s The F-Word show.

From The Simpson’s, we’ve collected 20 years of catch phrases and word play. I now regularly (and jokingly) refer to the book place as the “lie-berry”, call the elevator the “uppity box”, and have used the phrases, “donuts, is there anything they can’t do?” and “Haha! Your Dad’s not handy!” on more than one occasion.

The problem is, I’m 41.

I don’t know if this makes me hip or really lame.

Continue reading “My Cat’s Breath Smells Like Catfood”